1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a box car for transporting bulk material, the box car extending in a longitudinal direction and comprising a frame supported on undercarriages running on a track, a box supported on the frame for storing the bulk material, a bottom conveyor band arranged in the box and extending in the longitudinal direction, the bottom conveyor band being reversibly drivable in opposite conveying directions, an inclined transfer conveyor band projecting beyond one end of the box car, and a chute arranged at an end of the box car opposite the one end and spaced from the transfer conveyor, an end of the bottom conveyor being associated with the chute.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U. S. Pat. No. 5,400,718 discloses a box car of this general type. In track maintenance work, a number of such box cars are usually coupled together to make up a freight train, a series of overlapping conveyors enabling bulk material, such as ballast, to be conveyed along the entire train or to be stored in the box cars. The conveyors comprise bottom conveyor bands arranged in the box cars and transfer conveyor bands projecting from the box car ends to the adjacent box cars. Such box cars may also be used to discharge ballast on the track, for which purpose a chute is provided. The chute is arranged at an end of the box car opposite the one end and spaced from the transfer conveyor, an end of the bottom conveyor being associated with the chute. A bottom conveyor band drive enables a first conveying direction from the bottom conveyor band to the transfer conveyor band to be reversed to convey the ballast stored in the box car from the box car into the chute whence it is discharged to the track through a discharge opening which may be regulated by a metering device so that a metered amount of ballast is thrown on the track.
A similar box car has been disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 4,809,617. In this case, a respective discharge chute is associated with each rail of the track below the transfer conveyor band. A V-shaped deflecting baffle above the transfer conveyor band may be lowered onto the transfer conveyor band and adjusted so that the ballast may be directed to both chutes.